Trucking Laws · Nationwide · November 15, 2026

FMCSA Takes Comments on Five People With Implanted Heart Defibrillators Who Want to Drive Trucks Interstate

By Big Rig Daily Staff

Five people with implanted heart defibrillators have asked federal regulators for permission to drive commercial vehicles across state lines, and the public can weigh in until Dec. 16.

What the notice says

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced it received exemption applications from five individuals in a notice in the Federal Register, Docket No. FMCSA-2026-0064, scheduled for publication Nov. 16, 2026.

An implantable cardioverter defibrillator, or ICD, is a small device placed in the chest that can shock the heart back into a normal rhythm.

Federal rules say a person is physically qualified to drive a commercial motor vehicle only if they have no current diagnosis of heart disease of a kind known to cause fainting, shortness of breath, collapse or heart failure. FMCSA's guidance for medical examiners says ICDs are installed to address an ongoing heart condition, and that fainting or collapse is likely to occur both from that condition and when the device fires. In practice, that keeps people with ICDs out of interstate commercial driving unless they get an exemption.

The applicants

The notice describes each applicant's medical history as reported by their cardiologists. One is a Class A license holder in Tennessee whose device was implanted in 2018. His cardiologist reports no significant heart rhythm problems since then and no current restrictions. Another, from Texas, has a device implanted in 2023 that his cardiologist says has never gone off. The other three hold licenses in Alabama, Tennessee and Texas.

How FMCSA decides

FMCSA says it will look at each person's medical information, its earlier research reports, the medical advisory criteria and public comments. The agency can grant an exemption only if it finds safety would be equal to or better than without it. Medical exemptions are granted for two years, to match the longest period a driver's medical certificate can last.

For more on the medical exam that every commercial driver takes, see DOT physical and medical card basics.

A question for readers

Should a truck driver with an implanted defibrillator who has been stable for years be allowed back behind the wheel of a big rig?

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